Occupy Monsanto

Monsanto Company is an American multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation, founded in 1901 in St. Louis Missouri by John Francis Queeny. At present, its headquarters is in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto is a leading producer of genetically engineered seeds.

What does Monsanto say their all about?

At the heart of Monsanto is a very clear and principled code of conduct – one we expect all employees, contractors and management to live by every day. We operate under a genuine value system—our pledge—that demonstrates integrity, respect, ethical behavior, perspective and honesty as a foundation for everything we do.

A key part of fulfilling the promise of our value system is by engaging our communities in a significant and positive manner. Not only do we work hard to support the family farmer in a variety of ways, but we also:

provide extensive educational programs – particularly in science and agriculture – for students around the world

fund numerous research grants for graduate students

work in partnership with government bodies, non-profit agencies and advocacy groups to make agriculture more sustainable

Sustainable Agriculture:

People around the world depend on agriculture and the hard work of farmers for their most basic needs. With global population expected to grow by 40 percent in the next few decades, agriculture will need to become more productive and more sustainable in order to keep pace with rapidly increasing demands.

Sustainable agriculture is at the core of Monsanto. We are committed to developing the technologies that enable farmers to produce more crops while conserving more of the natural resources that are essential to their success.

“As an agricultural and technology company committed to human rights, we have a unique opportunity to protect and advance human rights. We have a responsibility to consider not only how our business can benefit consumers, farmers, and food processors, but how it can protect the human rights of both Monsanto’s employees and our business partners’ employees.”
— Hugh Grant, Monsanto, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Our human rights policy is an important manifestation of the company’s values as described in the Monsanto Pledge.

Corporate Giving:

Giving is a natural part of what we do at Monsanto. As a company, we are committed to making lives better.

Whether it is helping to provide better seed to improve the livelihood of our customers, working hard to provide more food for a growing population or using our financial resources to support communities around the globe – it is all the Monsanto way.

At present, Monsanto Company is the source of extreme controversy. The company is scrutinized and ridiculed by many. Moreover, the company faces many lawsuits. We decided to use the Monsanto Company as our case study because it provides insight into how economic globalization works. As we discussed in class, globalization is not equal everywhere. The Monsanto Company can certainly attest to this. Below are the lists of readings and videos.

ANT 341 examines recent theories of globalization from an anthropological perspective, with an emphasis on the transnational political, economic, and cultural structures that are transforming local societies throughout the world. Topics include transnational religions, popular culture, and global capitalism. Special attention is devoted to debates regarding power and cultural imperialism, popular culture, the impact of science and technology transfer, and diaspora ethnicity.